HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro met Tuesday with three members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the former Cuban president's first meeting with American officials since falling ill in July 2006.

Greg Adams, a spokesman at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, said Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, and two other lawmakers met with the ailing, 82-year-old Castro. He did not have further details, nor could he provide the names of the other Americans who attended the meeting.

Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) said she got the sense "[Fidel Castro] really wants President Obama to succeed" in his foreign policy goals. "He sincerely wants an opportunity, I think, in his lifetime to see a change in America." She added, Castro "looked directly into our eyes" and asked, "How can we help President Obama?" Richardson said.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL): Raul Castro is “just the opposite of how he’s being portrayed in the media… I think what really surprised me but also endeared to him was his keen sense of humor, his sense of history and his basic human qualities."

Bobby Rush was probably correct, but not the way that he thinks. Raul Castro is portrayed in our media as a legitimate head of state, not a heretary tyrant who is continuing his brother's oppressive rule.

I've got no use for Castro or his brother, but doing away with the trade and travel embargos could ultimately lead to their downfall, if the grim reaper doesn't come for them first. Give the people a taste of freedom and they want more. Look at what's happening in China-the church is growing, the people are slowly getting more rights, and it's the only place in the world where GM's sales went up recently, according to the news this morning. We have had free trade with them since the 70s.

Odysseus

04-08-2009, 04:34 PM

Funny, I thought he on his deathbed? Must be an energetic death.
Not energetic enough. Too many dictators have died peacefully in their beds after ensuring that their subjects would not. He should face the same firing squads that his crony, Che, imposed on the innocent victims of his rule.

LOL!!

I've got no use for Castro or his brother, but doing away with the trade and travel embargos could ultimately lead to their downfall, if the grim reaper doesn't come for them first. Give the people a taste of freedom and they want more. Look at what's happening in China-the church is growing, the people are slowly getting more rights, and it's the only place in the world where GM's sales went up recently, according to the news this morning. We have had free trade with them since the 70s.

Cuba has had trade with western Europe, Central and South America and Canada. It hasn't made them any freer, but it does provide the regime with desperately needed hard currency. Opening up Cuba to US tourism and trade won't make any difference, and might actually make things worse, as the remittances from expatriate Cubans would keep the regime going a bit longer, and our tourists would come away with a perverse view of the island, since they're not allowed to view Castro's prisons or his non-tourist hospitals. I'd rather just drop several crates of laptops and satellite modems so that the Cuban people can communicate with the outside world and each other. That tsunami of dissent will bring down Castro, just as it brought down his brothers in tyranny in Eastern Europe.

PoliCon

04-08-2009, 04:38 PM

Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) said she got the sense "[Fidel Castro] really wants President Obama to succeed" in his foreign policy goals. "He sincerely wants an opportunity, I think, in his lifetime to see a change in America." She added, Castro "looked directly into our eyes" and asked, "How can we help President Obama?" Richardson said.This alone should be evidence enough that Obama is a socialist.

MOMINFLA

04-08-2009, 04:40 PM

It is apparent to me that the congress people from California have no idea of what they are talking about in regards to Cuba. Do they have any concept of who Fidel Castro is at all? What kind of people would condone this type of behavior? These are elected officials? It is ridiculous, but again they are from California a state that does not believe in anything that has any moral fiber. Castro is playing them and others like he always has and they are falling for it.
"These people are living and participating and are in a better situation than in the U.S.?" Wow.... this from elected officials. If you believe that they are in a better situation I have a suggestion... LIVE IN CUBA and really see what the Cuban people are living like, but go into the neighborhoods not out in the open, don't tell them that you are American, just go in and hide out amoung them... Then you can get the real feel of it.
Come back and tell us how wonderful it is then...

Odysseus

04-08-2009, 06:02 PM

It is apparent to me that the congress people from California have no idea of what they are talking about in regards to Cuba. Do they have any concept of who Fidel Castro is at all? What kind of people would condone this type of behavior? These are elected officials? It is ridiculous, but again they are from California a state that does not believe in anything that has any moral fiber. Castro is playing them and others like he always has and they are falling for it.
"These people are living and participating and are in a better situation than in the U.S.?" Wow.... this from elected officials. If you believe that they are in a better situation I have a suggestion... LIVE IN CUBA and really see what the Cuban people are living like, but go into the neighborhoods not out in the open, don't tell them that you are American, just go in and hide out amoung them... Then you can get the real feel of it.
Come back and tell us how wonderful it is then...

Liberals are always willing to suck up to totalitarian governments because they believe that in the event that those types of governments were imposed here, they'd be part of the ruling elite. The fact that liberal reformers are always the first ones lined up and shot by communists never seems to penetrate. Regardless, they'd never go live in Cuba unless it was as privileged members of the elite.

SaintLouieWoman

04-08-2009, 07:00 PM

Glen Beck was playing Bobby Rush's comments on today's radio show. What a moron! It's difficult watching Obama and his followers take the country down the road to ruin.

BTW, talked to my accountant yesterday when I finally visited her to get the taxes done. She confessed she voted for Obama, but now regrets it. Had I known, I probably would have found a different CPA. :rolleyes:

Odysseus

04-08-2009, 07:08 PM

Glen Beck was playing Bobby Rush's comments on today's radio show. What a moron! It's difficult watching Obama and his followers take the country down the road to ruin.

BTW, talked to my accountant yesterday when I finally visited her to get the taxes done. She confessed she voted for Obama, but now regrets it. Had I known, I probably would have found a different CPA. :rolleyes:

Normally I don't let politics intrude in areas where it's not part of the issue (I really don't care how my car mechanic votes), but an accountant who couldn't crunch Obama's numbers and see through his rhetoric would give me pause. That's a basic issue of competence.

OTOH, at least she's wised up. Let's hope that the rest of the country does, too, and we might see a change in our fortunes in 2010 in the midterm elections. Of course, that's not the kind of hope and change that liberals promised...